334 ^' ^' ^^5^' 



tlon fo liberally gave, fome fpecies of induflry mufl have acquired ; and 

 that was moft probably the pafturage of cattle, an employment to which 

 the foil and climate of Ireland have in all ages been extremely favour- 

 able, and which was moft fuitable to the unfettled ftate of fociety then 

 exifting in that country ; unlefs we will fuppofe that the mines of Ire- 

 land, which, though unnoticed by any writer, feem to have been at 

 fome time very produftive, were ftill capable of fupplying the fums col- 

 leded in the cofters of the chiefs and the clergy. 



During the civil war between King Stephen and the emprefs, the 

 current money of England had been very much debafed, partly by the 

 frauds of the coiners taking advantage of the convulfed ftate of the king- 

 dom, but chiefly by almoft every baron ufurping the prerogative of 

 iflliing money coined by his own authority *. In order to put an effedt- 

 ual ftop to fo great an evil. King Henry made an entire new coinage 

 of the money of the kingdom ; and, as foon as it was completed (which 

 was in two years) he prohibited the currency of any other than his own 

 new money f. [R. Hoveden,f. a8i b. — M. Paris, p. 97. — Aim. Waver I. 

 ap. Gale, p. 159.] 



Several of the bifliops and abbats of England had a right to coin 

 money. [See above, pp. 266, 271, 306. — Fasdera, V. iii, />. 81; V. v,p. 

 755, — and all the hooks upon Englijlj coins ^ T fuppofe, the king did not 

 prefume to deprive them of any of their rights or privileges. 



In Scotland, at leaft the biftiop of St. Andrews had the right of coin- 

 ing money. \\'Vyntown^s Chronicle of Scotland, V. i, /». 396. J 



About this time the proportion of filver to gold was nine for one. 

 {J^ladox's Hijl. of the excheq. c. 9, § 2.] 



1 157 — Now, and alfo at other times, Henry raifed money by requiring 

 gfts from the ftiires, burghs, biftiops, barons, and others. The opulence 

 of the city of London appears from the largeiiefs ot its gift on this occa- 

 fion, which was no lefs than ^1,043 (equivalent to above ^{^30,000 of 

 modern money) and exceeded the joint contributions of the fhires of 

 Lincoln, Somerfet, Eflcx, and Kent, together with thofe of the biOiop 

 of Bath and the abbat of St. Albans. [^Aiadox's Hiji. of the excheq. c. 17, 



Frederic emperor of Germany fent ambafladors to the king of Eng- 

 land with prefents, and a letter defiring to have a treaty of friendfliip 



* The great lords on the continent affumed, or the beginning of his Ilidory, that the money of 



were indulged in, tlie privilege of coining money. England was made of pure fdver : hut he mult be 



In France they could not coin gold or filver with- underllood to mean filver of the legal (landard, as 



out the king's exprefs permifTion, an inllance of oppofed to the adulterated filver ot the precding 



wliich we have in a diploma granted by Lewis XI reign, and perhaps alfo to the coins of otlitr coun- 



iii October 1465 to the qucns (earl) of Brctagnc, tries, fome of which were now made of filver much 



permitting him to coin money of^ gold. [/Ju inferior to the Englilh (tandard. The money of 



Conge^ Glofi. Lit. V. iv, cul. 87 1.] France, in particular, was fo much debafed about 



f Henry ot Huntingdon, who probably wrote this time, that only a half of it was filver. [L» 



foou after the reformation of the money, fays in lUnnc, Traitc ties munayes, p. xviii.J 



